Ice bag



Jan. 9, 1923.

ICE BAG.

FILED rELzl. 1919.

INVENTOR Patented lega 9, i923.

.STATE ICE IBAG.

Application med February 21, 191e. seriarno. 278,402.

To all whom t may comieron' Be it known that I, HARRIETTE HonesoN, of 29Washington Square, New York city, a citizen of the United States,residingat New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ice Bags, ofwhich the following is a full and clear specification. A

This invention relates to ice bags used for medical and surgical work;and it has for its obiect the providing of a comfortable and effectiveice bag that will overcome the objections incidental to the use incertain classes of medical and surgical work of waterproof ice bags nowcommonly employed, and that will be cheap enough for general home use.

Ice bags made of rubber andother material impervious to water areexpensive and hard to keep in order.

For many uses they are stii' and uncomfortable and hard to keep inplace. They are also clammy and sweat disagreeably and causeunsatisfactory conditions to the skin to which they are applied. In manycases of illness and injury it 1s desirable to keepy the skin moist aswell as cold; and yet the water from the melting ice must bepreventedfrom freely escaplng from the bag or other receptaclecontainlng the same. Ice bags made in accordance with my invention I.areextremely cheap and yet are effective in accomplishing the objects andavoiding the objections above mentioned. They are soft and iexible andare comfortable under all conditions of application. They allow thedesired amount of moisture to reach the skin of the patient; and yetwhile they become wet with use, they prevent undesirable escape of thewaterformed by the melting ice. The skin conditions induced by the useof these bags are entirely satisfactory.

Thisl invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings,Fig. 1 'of which shows in perspectivev one form of ice bag madeinaccordance with my invention, Fig. 2 of which shows a cross-section ofthe ice bag illustrated in Fig. 1 taken ,on line X X of that figure and,Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section through two layers of the materialembodied in the wall of the device.

The novel featuresof my invention will be apparent from the drawing and.will be if used too long at a time they blister and particularly setforth in the appended in height, which I have found desirable forgeneral use. Of course, however,-this ice bag may be made of any shapeor size desired for special purposes; as for example, a small bagapproximately 3 inches by. 2 has been found desirable for use intreatment of the eye. My improved ice bag is composed of severalthicknesses (number varymg according to size of bagwhich regulatesquantity of ice used) of a iiufy cellular fibrous material such as sheetlint; which I have discovered to have properties that adapt itpeculiarly for the use in question. The sheet lint as commonly used forsurgical and medical work, is composed of a layer of loosely wovencotton libre upon which is placed a layer of loosely laid cotton fibre.The structure of this material is indicated in cross-section in Fig. 3-which shows two layers of this material with the unwoven surfaces facingeach other. In addition to sheet lint, however, other loosely wovenmaterial of cellular fibre having absorbent qualities such as bathtowelling and other fabricsy especially characterized by the qualitiesof capillarity and absorption and so woven as to have air containinginterstices within the structure of the material,

'may be used. This material I fold one or more times according to sizeof bag and quantity of ice to be absorbed and sewinto a bag of desiredshape; one side of which is preferably provided with a flap that can betucked into the interior of the bag when filled with ice, to close thesame and to help absorb the water from the melting ice.

Any suitable method of folding and sewing the material to form' this bagmay be followed. In order thatl a sufficient amount of absorbent clothshould be used to absorb the water fromthe melting ice in a bag of muchgreater size and also in order similarly to regulate the heat insulatingeffect of the material composing the bag, I make the walls of the bagand flap of two or more thicknesses of material according to the size ofthe bag and amount of ice contained therein. In the case of the smallsize of bag of the size above mentioned made of sheet lint, twothicknesses have been found suicient. In

the caseof larger bags of say about 9 inches by 5 inches or larger,three thicknesses are desirable 4or in some instances two thicknesses ofsheet lint may be used and .a separate pad of the same u'y absorbentmaterial :may be placed loosely insideof the bag A which separate padmayalso be used if desired where three layers-are used for the walls of thebag, as shown in Fig. 2. Preferably I arrange the layers with the -twounwoven surfaces on. the inside and the woven surfaces on the outside.The number of lay.-

ers of material used should be proportionate\ to the size of the bag.The number of layers should be such that the water from the melting icewill be substantially absorbed by the cellular material com osing thebag and held in the interstices of t e material during-the period of themelting of the ice. lB-y-the timev the ice is completely melted, thematerial will be saturated with water. The bag should then be removed,squeezed out and dried, when it may again be filled with ice. Not onlydoes the fin-ffy cellular structure of the material used in my bagabsorb and hold the water from melting ice and prevent its flowing fromthe bag but also the air spaces in the material itself and between thelayers serve to increase the heat insulating properties of the materialcomposing the bag, thus materially increasing the time during which theice remains unmelted in the bag. With a bag 9 inches by 4 composed ofthree layers of sheet lint, I have found that the cracked 'ice placedtherein will not be entirely melted under ordinary conditions for aboutthree to five hours and that the material in such bag will be sufiicientto retain the bulk of the water until after the ice is completely orsubstantially all melted. If a bag of considerably larger dimensions isto be used the number of thicknesses of sheet lint should becorrespondingly increased varying so as to absorb the water from themelting ice with mathematical exactness.

Referring vto the drawings, A represents the front wall. B the rear walland C the flap of the ice bag made in accordance with my invention whichis here shown as composed of three layers D` E and E', of materialsimilar to sheet lint having, as indicated in Fig. 3 a loosely wovenlayer H upon which is placed a layer of loose fibre 1. The dotted linesin Fig.l 2 show the flap tucked into the interior of the bag. F' is aseparate pad laid in the inside of the bag preferably made of the samematerial as the walls of the bag. Gis the crushed ice contained in thebag. K-K indicates the stitching by which the edges of the materialforming the walls of the bag are joined together. But as aboveindicated, the material may be made in any suitableI form and joined byseams located at any desired point.

I do not intend to limit myself to any particular 'size or shape of thebag' or to liave any specified number of layers or to the particularmaterial above mentioned as peculiarly adapted for use in my improvedice bag. It is evident that such bag mayv be made in varying forms anddimensions and w1th other material than that specifically mentloned buthaving the same general structure and absorbent and heat insulatingproperties of the bag regulated through the number of layersused withrespect to the uantity of ice contained in the bag, without yepartingfrom the spirit of myvinvention. What I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1,:n ice pad for medical and surgical use comprising a bag the walls ofwhich are made of cellular absorbent fibrous material.

2. An ice pad for medical and surgical use comprising a bag the walls ofwhich are made of cellular absorbent fibrous material and having a flaof similar material.

3. An ice pa for medical and surgical use comprising'a bag the walls ofwhich are composed of a plurality of layers of cellular, absorbent,fibrous material having capillary action.

4. An ice pad comprising a bag, the walls of which are composed ofcellular absorbent material having heat insulating qualities, sufficientcapillary action to permit gradual passage of moisture from a charge ofmelting icein the bag to the exterior of the walls and sufiicientabsorbent action materially to retard the flow of the bulk of the waterthrough the walls.

5. A11 ice pad for medical and surgica use comprising a bag, the wallsof which are made of cellular, absorbent fibrous material havingvcapillary action and provided with a separate pad of similarmaterialcontained in said bag.

6. An ice pad for medical and surgical use, comprising a bag the wallsof which are compose-d of loosely arranged absorbent vegetable fibresdisposed toward each other so as to form air spaces between such fibres.

7. An ice pad for medical and surgical use, comprising a bag the wallsof which are made of a. plurality of layers of absorbent vegetablefibres which are so disposed toward each other in said layers and thelayers are so arranged with respect to each other as to form air spacesin the fibres of said l-ayers and between said layers said fibers havingcapillary action.

8. An ice pad for medical 'and surgical' 1Y0. An ice pad for medical andsurgical" a layer of loosely laid strands arranged upon the innersurface of said fabric, said strands being absorbent and havingcapillary action.

11. An ice pad for medical and surgical use comprising abag, the Wallsof which are composedof cellularabsorbent material of sucient thicknessvto allo'wpmoisture from melting ice in thebag gradually to pass to theexterior of the bag and to retard the free flow of the bulk-of the'Water until the nor# mal, ice charge. of the bagisA substantiallycompletely melted.

In testimony whereof, I', have vsigned this specification.

= 'HARRIETTE' E. "H'oiDGsoN,A

